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The Arizona Desert Classic Tour's Inaugural Season came to an end on Jan. 9th-11th in Payson, Arizona.  Players that had played in a minimum of two of the stops during the season were qualified to compete for the $5000+ added event.  Of the 90+ players that were qualified, 50 showed up at the Beautiful Mazatzal Casino to try and take home the big money.  The top 8 seeded players from the season were all placed in the bracket by rank, while the other 42 players were drawn in randomly.  The top 8 seeded players in order were, Mitch Ellerman, Jimmy Mendoza, Scott Frost, Dennis Orender, Chuck Evans, Gus Briseno, Rudy Alameda and squeaking in with the final spot was George Teyechea from Tucson.  Just edged out of the top 8 was Tres "The Fireman" Kane and David Wiseman.

Being seeded in the tournament didn't necessarily mean you would do well in this 10-ball Barbox event.  Where most of the top 8 won a match or two on the winners side of the board, a few had some trouble against some hungry opponents.  Scott Frost drew a player with the exact same fast aggressive style as his own, Bobby Emmons.  And just like that Frost was sent to the one-lose side with a score of 10 - 6.  Another player to stumble out of the gates was Gus Briseno who drew Angel Martinez who played near perfect for the victory. Chuck Evans held down the 5th spot but failed to make the trip thus providing a bye for his Opponent Tres Kane.

Rudy Alameda was able to get by his first two opponents but lost his 3rd round to Mike "Pancake" Pankoff.  Bernie Pettipiece, the newest 10-1 rated player in Arizona had a tough time losing to New Mexico Player Brian Begay and then to Scott Frost to go 2 & out.  David Wiseman started out with a Bye and then disposed of Rick Schmitz and Pete Lhotka before being run over by Bobby Emmons.  Mr. Emmons was using his fast aggressive style to run through rack after rack in winning his first 4 matches.

Dennis Orender, one of the co-founders of the Desert Classic Tour, started out his tournament on the right foot.  He drew a bye in the first round and then Beat Ron Rutan, Jack Ripple and Tres Kane before bowing down to Mitch Ellerman.  In the one-lose side of the board he beat Mike Pankoff before losing to Scott Frost.

Two of the best players in the state were more focused than any other.  Mitch Ellerman, points leader, and Jimmy Mendoza, second in points, both marched through the tough winners side bracket all the way to the hot seat match.  Mitch scored wins over Rodney Irby, Brett Huth, Donnie Westbrooks, George Teyechea, and Dennis Orender to get to this match.  The one match that stood out the most was against George Teyechea.  George used some uncharacteristic misses from Mitch early to jump out to a 6 - 2 lead.  Mitch took a deep breath and refocused his attention.  Over the next 25 minutes Mitch put rack after rack together and won the next 8 games in a row.  And only one of those wins was a break and run.

Jimmy's road through the winners side started with a Bye, then a tough hill-hill match with Paul Grande.  Next he beat Hawaiian Bobby (Barreras), Mike Pankoff, and Bobby Emmons.  The hotseat match was as exciting as expected.  The two traded racks back and forth with neither getting a 2 game lead until Mitch won game 8 to make it 5 - 3.  Jimmy had his chances, but Mitch wouldn't budge and kept the lead all the way through the finish.  Mitch secured a 1st or 2nd place finish with winning the hot seat.

The real story of the tournament was the quest of Scott Frost.  After losing his first match to Bobby Emmons, he knew he had his work cut out for him.  And on this road he would have to play twice as many matches as Mitch if he wanted to get into the finals.  He started out by sending Bernie Pettipiece home, then ran into a real battle with Preacher Ron Rutan.  Ron had been sent to the one-loss side by Dennis Orender.  These two great 1-pocket players traded some early racks but Ron was able to pull ahead and get to the hill first.  Sitting at 8 - 6 in the race to 9 on the back side, Ron only wanted a chance to finish him off.  In the 15th rack he got that chance and made a few balls before missing a fairly easy shot that rattled in the pocket.  In the 16th rack he had another opportunity with a tough shot that came short about 6 inches.  Scott was able to come back for the hill-hill victory and send Ron home without any money.  Many players were sweating this match as a defeat to the number one player in the state would bode well for the remaining players.  Continuing on his journey Scott sent home Dale Teague, Bobby Barreres, Gus Briseno, George Teyechea, Pete Lhotka, Bobby Emmons and Dennis Orender to assure atleast 3rd.  His next match would be against the loser of the Hot Seat match, Jimmy Mendoza.

Lenny Marshall from www.OnTheRailTV.com was on hand as always to stream the matches live on the internet for everyone you couldn't make it to Payson.  The 3rd place match was shown on the TV table and really showed the great talent of these two players.  Each and every rack was played back in forth with safeties and position play to get to the open table.  When either one of them had the open shot they ran out the rack.  Back and forth they went and Jimmy had a chance to put together a run to end Scott's journey but things didn't work out they way he needed them too.  Scott finished off the set and finished his long trek through the losers side of the bracket.  Jimmy had to settle for 3rd place in the Tour's Championship Tournament and took home $1070 for his efforts.

The finals stage was set with the two highest rated players in the state matching up for the one-set extended race to 13 finals.  First place would receive $2630 while 2nd would receive $1610.  But this matches hype ended up being more exciting than the match itself.  Scott was able to take an early lead and Mitch seemed to run out of gas a little.  After only a few short games the lead Scott had built appeared to be too much for anyone to overcome.  They each traded a few games in the middle but in the end Scott was able to put Mitch away and take home the Championship.  Congratulations to both guys for a fantastic run throughout the entire season.

Full points standings can be found on www.desertclassictour.com and all the individual tour stories right here on azpoolscene.com at www.azpoolscene.com/Classic2008.html.

The tour itself wouldn't be possible without the fantastic sponsors that donated various gifts.  Brett Huth was the winner of a beautiful Keith Nickerson Cue.  You can view his cues at www.nickersoncues.com.  Jude Espinoza and Al Terpstra tied for the overpoints to the highest 8 rated player and played for the title and the Dale Teague Custom Cue.  Jude came out on top in that match and the cue was delivered during the championship tournament.  Mitch Ellerman finished as the overall point leader on the tour and was presented with another Dale Teague custom cue and a fantastic case made by On Q' Cases, www.onqcases.com.  Tiger products donated various products to all the players, www.tigerproducts.com.   AwardCertificates were handed out to all the sponsors during the ceremony.

Receiving Free Memberships for the 2009 Tour were Susan Williams for the Highest Finishing Female.  Rick Schmitz also received a free membership for being the only person to play in every event on the 2008 tour.  Dennis Orender also played in all the events, but wasn't going to award himself a prize.  Al Terpstra received free membership for his tie in points for the 8 & Under overall lead.  The top 4 finishers in points were the last to receive free membership.  Mitch Ellerman, Jimmy Mendoza, Scott Frost and Dennis Orender.